Why is market segmentation important How does market segmentation differ for consumer and business markets How does it affect the marketing mix Market segmentation is a two tiered process that involves first identifying the groups of people or organizations that share combined needs and characteristics and then aggregating or combining these groups into larger market segments based on the mutual interest in a products features in relation to the perception of needs Arens Weingold Arens p 169 2008 Market segmentation allows the company to directly focus certain products or services to a target market with a higher percentage chance of creating a product that fits the needs and wants of the consumers in an efficient time frame The process of segmenting the consumer market is a matter of finding the right niche at the right time There are 3 categories of characteristics that consumer segmentation follows which are behavioristic geographic demographic and psychographic characteristics The goal with these characteristics is to first identify the potentially responsive consumers next is to develop an understanding of these consumers to better develop products for them that will invoke the spending of money for the company Behavioristic segmentation is the ability to segment a population based on their purchasing behaviors Geographic segmentation is the understanding of how different regions of a country will yield different consumer wants needs and desires Demographic segmentation is the break a population down by their age sex ethnicity education occupation income and other factors Finally Psychographic segmentation is the ability to segment a population by the values attitudes personality and lifestyles On the other hand market segmentation for business markets use a more complex rigid process that is more professional in nature The segmentation for business markets does share some of the similarities as the consumer market but the layered process that the decision making takes place at involves a more detailed time consuming process The marketing mix will provide the framework for the advertising and the market segmentation The marketing mix is a byproduct of the market segmentation in that the segmentation is going to provide the target for the market mix product price place and promotions